Лидский замок является одним из самых знаменитых monuments of architecture of Belarus. It was created in 1323 by order of Prince Gedimin. Its main purpose is to protect the lands from the crusaders of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, who liked the generous lands of this part of Europe.
Lida Castle whose photos are presented inThis article was built in a swampy area, in a place where the Kamenka and Lidea rivers meet. From its northern side there was a moat connecting the rivers and separating the building from the city. To build this structure, the builders were able to create a sandy artificial island. Further (in 16-17 centuries) in the period of castle fortifications from the north side an artificial lake was created.
Lida Castle in the plan representsquadrilateral of irregular shape with 2 corner towers. Its walls were built of brick and rubble stone. By the way, brick in Eastern Europe and Germany was very popular then. He served as the basis for the emergence of "brick Gothic", in it, in fact, the lock and made.
In the courtyard of the castle were household and residentialfrom the 16th century, the first floor was taken under the city administrative buildings - a prison, an archive and a court. The Orthodox Church was also located in the courtyard, transferred to the city in 1533.
On the southern wall loopholes are still preserved, which were the same height and tubeless, with different widths. There were only 3 types of them. Loopholes were needed for shooting crossbows and bows.
In the southwestern part of the castle was a tower close in plan to the square. The thickness of the walls was about 3 m, and its height was much higher than the 12-meter walls of the building.
На северо-востоке двора находилась 2-я башня, supposedly built at the end of the 14th century. At that time, castle fortifications were created in Belarus and Lithuania, as the attacks of the enemies became more frequent and powerful. This tower also has the shape of a quad.
Lida Castle from the end of the 14th century was experiencingdestructive siege enemies. Initially, it was captured by the Crusaders, who partially plundered it, and then by the Anglo-German army. In the 15th and 16th centuries, the castle was attacked by the Crimean Tatars, Prince Svidrigaila and the troops of Yury Svyatoslavich. In 1659, the Lida Castle stormed the army from Moscow.
In 1394there was one of the British raids on Lida, and the French army also took part in it. The British intended to plunder the city, but the residents themselves burned down all the houses and hid in the castle, thus repulsing the attack. Since the city did not have its own fortifications, the castle was a salvation for the entire local population.
City in 1891burned out because of the fire that destroyed the castle too. The city authorities began to sell its fragments, bricks and stones went to restore the buildings of Lida. But after numerous protests of local residents, vandalism and looting turned out to be stopped.
In tsarist times, the restoration of the castle began.Then the archaeological Imperial Commission for the restoration work allocated 946 rubles, although little was done. In the 1920s, Polish specialists undertook restoration work, although they were not able to do much. In the eighties of the last century, the specialists of the Ministry of Culture of Belarus restored the north-eastern tower and walls, where the local history museum is located today. It is worth knowing when you are going on an excursion to Lida Castle, the opening hours of the exhibition halls: they are open to visitors every day, except Monday, from morning until 7 o'clock in the evening.
The most recent restoration of the building took place in2011, but its results did not even disappoint - they outraged the indifferent! There is an opinion that the work was carried out extremely carelessly, having a single goal - to please the officials and withdraw the budget funds allocated for the restoration.
Brick laying was carried out somehow, artlesslyand crooked. An incredible amount of modern mortar was spent on the masonry, and as a result huge gaps remained in the walls. But the main thing is the bricks, which were also “today's”, and not original; in some places even hollow ceramites appeared, which they could not do in the dark Middle Ages. The bricks are also of different shades, while their color difference was not taken into account during laying.
Many tourists remain bewildered, having beenhere. They leave comments that they were unpleasantly surprised to see an exhibition on the 1st floor that reminds many, rather, a corner of local history at the school’s museum. Household items, castle attributes were made primitively. Some campers grin, talking about the table, which is set in the main hall of the castle - it is lit by only a few candles, which, in theory, should have been much more; Apparently, they were also pitying money for them. As a result, it is incredibly dark. Also, tourists leave angry reviews that in some places of the building concrete was used, and the stairs were completely made of reinforced concrete! Surely such a structure will stand for hundreds of years. But if people in the XIV century knew something about reinforced concrete, most likely, the history of Eastern Europe and Russia would be different, and the castle would not suffer such a fate as destruction from time to time.
